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Friday, March 27, 2015

Today I am sharing a layout I created for Wedding Week over at Paper House Productions. They have such a wide variety of wedding themed products that it is easy to find something that works for your style!

All of the patterned paper I used on this layout came from the 6" Romance Paper Pad. I absolutely fell in love with the image of the 2 little birds in the cage with that bright pop of color from the red heart! That was my starting point. I simply pulled coordinating papers out of the pad and played with the layers until I was happy with the arrangement.

I have my own little love affair going on with the Chalkboard Stickers from Paper House! See how those alpha stickers just *pop* off the black background? I love it! And that red heart relates back to my initial focal image on the paper.

A second chalkboard sticker, and the wedding cake image, came from the Vintage Wedding Chalkboard Stickers set and it anchors this little embellishment cluster.

The "Love Much" title came from a 3D sticker set and actually had 3 layers. I wanted a little more streamlined look so I just peeled off the layer in the back! I also added one of the tiny Vintage Romance Snapshot Stickers, this one with flowers and the sentiment, "Cherish." They are so adorable and are hands down my favorite new product from Paper House!

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Today I am sharing a layout I created for the Spellbinders 2015 Spring Fever Partner Blog Hop!

I paired some newly released Spellbinders dies with Want2Scrap chipboard and bling with fabulous results! You can see a full tutorial on this project over on the Want2Scrap blog today, along with some beautiful cards created by fellow Want2Scrap designer Candy Slabaugh! You also have a chance to enter for a very generous prize giveaway so be sure to check it out!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find some time to play today! Susie

Sunday, March 22, 2015

My husband worked his way through college installing batteries at a local Sears garage and he saved us so much money over the years with the skills he picked up there! I am happy to say he is passing his knowledge on to the next generation! I snapped these pictures of my husband and son doing some basic car maintenance.

I knew I wanted to create something really grungy and the paint splattered design on the tape was perfect! The color of the tape also matched my son's jacket in the photos. The paper I used on this layout are from Authentique's new Durable Collection.

Since the guys were working on the car it was natural to want to add some gears, right? I pulled out this stencil from The Crafter's Workshop, Versamark ink and went to town! I used clear embossing powder to heat emboss the page. When I added ink, the embossed portion resisted the ink so the gear image shows up beautifully!

I used the same ink to add a little distressing to my washi tape because the white on it was just a tiny bit too bright.

Next I added some Chipboard Gears from Want2Scrap. I used Copper embossing powder on them to make them look like metal. You can see I actually cut the largest one in half and tucked it behind the photo on opposite sides of the layout.

Here you can see the dimension I got from layering the chipboard gears over the heat embossed gears:

The washi tape also coordinated with the papers from Authentique. I created a photo mat by layering and distressing a couple different papers from the Durable Collection.

I added a wood veneer car (below) from my stash. I also added some copper colored brads to the center of these Want2Scrap chipboard gears:

Can you believe I had a miniature metal wrench in my stash?! How perfect is that? Again, I love the way the stenciled gears give the layout so much dimension!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find some time to play today! Susie

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Today I am sharing a layout I created for Paper House Productions. I have to say I love being on their Design Team because their products are so versatile! You might be thinking, "No! Paper House offers very themed products." Well I created this baby layout using paper and embellishments that were originally in wedding and garden themed collections - have a look!

The background paper, with the built in title and the fabulous swirls and texture, is actually part of the Wedding Day Collection. I saw it and immediately wanted to use it to scrap my son's baby pics!

The pink flower is from the Garden Chalkboard Stickers set which is actually a mix of chalkboard shapes and colorful images on really sturdy adhesive cardstock.

The chalkboard sticker in the photo below is from the Vintage Wedding Chalkboard Stickers. The words at the top and the flowers at the bottom are pre-printed. I added the alpha stickers, the wood veneer heart and the sweet little pearls.

This narrow horizontal frame and the "Love" banner are also from the Vintage Wedding set. This time I wrote on the chalkboard with a white gel pen. I added more flowers from the Garden Chalkboard set.

You may have noticed that I tucked three small white doilies behind the pictures to create soft photo mats. I finished off my embellishing with some stickers and chipboard from my stash.

I hope I have inspired you to look at the themed products from Paper House and just consider the possibilities!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find some time to play today! Susie

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

I love to create things that are pretty AND useful. Today I was inspired to create a home decor piece with Love My Tapes washi tapes and some stencils. I used a classic color combination and repeating patterns and ended up with something that is both feminine and practical!

I found this acrylic frame in the clearance aisle of a home dec store at a 90% discount! I love the scalloped edge! The other cool feature of the frame is that it is 2 pieces of clear acrylic held together by really strong magnets in each of the corners.

I cut an 8x10 piece of white cardstock and matted it with black cardstock. I love this Butterfly/Music washi tape! It is over an inch wide and is so classy! I put a strip across the top and bottom of the cardstock and added strips of the Hot Pink striped washi along the side edges.

I used a stencil to add the text by coloring through the stencil with a black micron pen. I used bits of washi to hold the stencil in place.

I created a subtle background by stenciling butterflies onto the white cardstock. I chose light colors so that when I wrote on the frame with a black dry erase marker it would be easy to read.

I have a stack of post-its I keep handy to mask off areas where I do NOT want there to be ink.

I blended 2 shades Distress Ink, Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstick

Here is the finished piece before I put it back into the frame...

...and here it is in use!

The dry erase marker wipes right off and there is no danger of damaging the beautiful background I created. It is perfect for leaving notes or making lists AND being stylish at the same time! Be sure to check out the Love My Tapes Etsy Shop to see the whole range of washi tape and find something to perfectly accent your decor!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find some time to play today! Susie

Thursday, March 12, 2015

My daughter is really proud of her Irish heritage AND her green eyes so she absolutely loves to dress up for St. Patrick's Day! I reached for the Lucky Collection from Authentique and Green Rhinestone Bling from Want2Scrap to document her fashion choices!

I actually started by stenciling a design on white cardstock using 2 different colors of ink, Peeled Paint and Mowed Grass Distress Inks from Ranger. The Amiens 6x6 stencil I used is part of the Cathedral Collection from artistcellar.

I really love the Lucky Four piece of paper from Authentique. It looks like it has a delicately stitched swirly shamrock pattern all over a vibrant green background. I used a semi-circle of the stenciled image and adhered it along the left side of the page.

One side of the Lucky Six paper has a nice set of cards that are easily trimmed out for fans of the Project Life pocket style of scrapbooking. This little Leprechaun caught my eye so I trimmed out the signs...

...and added them to the top of the layout. The stenciled design serves as a nice background for the title. Want2Scrap has 72 count rhinestone bling in several colors. The gems in each pack come in a mix of 3 different sizes: 8mm, 6mm and 3mm. I chose Light Green and used the tiny rhinestones to accent the edge of the stenciled design and placed an 8mm right in the center.

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I started this final embellishment cluster by trimming out the Irish postage stamp and the banner from the Lucky Two paper:

Happy St. Patrick's Day and I hope you find some time to play today! Susie

I decided I wanted to use narrow strips of washi tape to accent this Easter egg border. The first step was to pull out my ruler and craft knife and apply a piece of the hot pink striped tape to my cutting mat. I made a point to just lightly adhere the tape so that it would be easy to remove.

I used the grid on the mat to help me cut straight thin strips which I peeled off and adhered in place.

I placed the finished piece across the center of the layout and then added the other elements.

In the upper left corner, I used a couple pieces of washi tape to create a banner under the title sticker. I specifically chose the purple dot tape because it matches my daughter's dress. The Echo Park Happy Easter paper I used did not have any purple in it at all and this is my favorite way to tie the photos to the layout.

The top center of the layout is occupied by a Project Life style pocket card. I created a journaling card to tuck behind it because I tend to use a lot of hidden journaling. I incorporated the same thin strips of hot pink striped washi I used on the Easter Egg strip.

I used a couple more strips of washi on the bottom corner of the page to anchor a small embellishment cluster:

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find some time to play today! Susie

Saturday, March 7, 2015

I am having lots of fun working on Easter projects! Today I combined the Treasure Collection from Authentique with some new dies from Cheery Lynn Designs to create this fun page:

I started by centering an 8" blue square on of a piece of plaid paper. Next I used the Lords & Commons die to cut a doily from white cardstock and tucked it behind the photo in the upper left. I added the sentiment from the Treasure components cardstock accents sheet.

This small medallion is also cut from the same doily die set:

I love all of the coordinating cardstock elements in this paper collection - great colors and typography!

One of my favorite things about dies is being able to create custom embellishments for my projects - just a little something to make my pages a bit different. On this layout I used another new die set from Cheery Lynn Designs to cut out a pair of cute little bunnies. I added a few touches of color and used a black pen to detail the eyes and whiskers before I heat embossed these little guys: